In recent years, image pickup apparatus such as a digital video camera and a digital still camera have been popularized. Further, an image pickup apparatus is available wherein a picked up image recorded by those image pickup apparatus can be displayed and reproduced on a display section such as a liquid crystal panel.
Further, an image pickup apparatus is available wherein the display magnification of a picked up image displayed on such a display section can be varied by a user operation. For example, an image reproduction apparatus has been proposed wherein, in a case wherein an image recorded is reproduced and displayed, a partial region of the image is displayed in an enlarged scale (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-217061 (FIG. 4)).
According to the related art described above, since a partial region of a picked up image displayed on the display section can be displayed in an enlarged scale, the user can enlarge and watch a desired image portion. On the other hand, it is considered that, where the user wants to watch a picked up image displayed in the display section in a bird-eye view fashion, the picked up image is displayed in a reduced scale. For example, it is a possible idea to successively display still pictures recorded successively one by one in a reduced scale at a central portion of the display section. In this instance, since only a still picture which makes an object of display is displayed in a reduced state, the user cannot grasp a relationship of the still picture to the other still pictures and it is difficult to watch picked up images in a bird-eye view fashion. Therefore, it is a possible idea to display the still pictures in a reduced scale, for example, such that they are juxtaposed with each other in a time series on the display section. In this instance, although the still pictures are juxtaposed in a time series, there is the possibility that the user may not be able to grasp, for example, a relationship between adjacent ones of the still pictures and may not be able to watch the picked up images in a bird-eye view fashion.
Further, it is a possible idea to reproduce a picked up dynamic picture in a reduced scale in the proximity of the center of the display section. Also in this instance, there is the possibility that the user may not be able to grasp a relationship of one picked up image which forms the picked up dynamic picture and the other picked up images other than the picked up image and may not be able to watch the picked up dynamic picture in a bird-eye view fashion.
Therefore, it is considered that, for example, if still pictures or picked up dynamic pictures recorded successively can be watched in a bird-eye view fashion in relation to the other picked up images, then the user can readily grasp the contents of the picked up images.
It is an object of the present invention to make it possible to grasp, when picked up images picked up by an image pickup apparatus are accessed, the contents of the picked up images readily.